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61 DEVELOPMENT THROUGH SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION The Directorate of Technical Aid Corps (DTAC) and its commitment to South-South Cooperation Although the initiative is indigenous, Nigeria’s TAC scheme came about as a response to the Buenos Aires Declaration on South-South Cooperation in the late 1970s. Since then, Nigeria, through the DTAC, has been actively organising SSC programmes in response to demands from ACP coun- tries in the health, education, legal, science and technology, and agricultural sectors, among others. While volunteers’ positive contributions to the devel- opment of recipient countries have helped, in no small measure, to give Nigeria a very positive image in terms of its foreign policy fulfilment, the contributions have, as a conse- quence, sustained SSC. Since inception, the programme has deployed approximately 6,000 volunteers to 36 coun- tries and is currently operational in 14 countries in the ACP regions, including Benin Republic, Ghana (Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa), Jamaica, Liberia, Namibia, Rwanda, Niger Republic, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Tanzania, The Gambia, Seychelles, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Belize. More states have indicated interest in the scheme, and its utility value is becoming largely known to the world. In view of the positive strides made by the TAC scheme, a number of regional and international organizations have entered into cooperation agreements with the Directorate. These include the United Nations Volunteer programme; Shelter Afrique (a pan-African finance institution that supports the development of housing in Africa); UNDP; the African Union; and the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB). For the first time ever, a manpower assistance programme run by a developing country is considered a model for expanding the scope of the Commonwealth Manpower Development Assistance Programme. Achievements of the scheme Nigeria’s TAC scheme prides itself in achieving a great deal in terms of capacity development in the various sectors of deployment, thereby leaving significant legacies in the recip- ient countries. In Kenya, two medical ex-volunteers who served with Shelter Afrique were retained as directors and were also instrumental in the design and construction of a low-cost housing scheme in Bayelsa State, Nigeria, which was substantially financed by Shelter Afrique. In Uganda, TAC volunteers designed and established the computer science and network system for the Institute of Teacher Education. In the Commonwealth of Dominica, Nigerian volun- teers assisted in evolving a new healthcare delivery system and an ex-volunteer was made the pioneer director of the primary healthcare system. In Zambia, it took the efforts of a TAC volunteer to design a curriculum and initiate a A TAC volunteer medical doctor on duty in Liberia A TAC volunteer taking class at a school in Liberia Image: DTAC Image: DTAC